Poole succumb to Wednesfield in BCTG Elite League

This was an Elite League meeting of two different halves as Poole took the early slender lead in the first two heats.

Race one saw Poole gain a 6-4 with a win for Greg Gluchowski and Aces recently crowned junior euro champ Ricki Johnson in second place with his team partner and can't Chris Jewkes taking a nasty tumble on the back straight picking himself up to run in behind Poole’s Michal Nowack.

Heat two saw Poole extend their lead further when the Aces Gavin Wheeler was excluded by match referee Mr Mike Hack for moving at the start tapes in the re-run Poole’s Tom Reed got the better of Aces British under 19 champ Ben Mould to take a 6-3 heat advantage with his team partner Arron Smith in 3rd.

The next heat saw the Aces come bouncing back with a 7-3 heat win from the pairing of Scott Doherty and Lee Aris against Tom Colling and Sam Hearn, heat 4 was a 5-5 with his second win of the day for Greg Gluchowski.

Heat 5 saw Wednesfield sneek into the lead with a 7-3 heat win after some good team riding from the pairing of Haddock and Jewkes, the next heat was a shared heat with Reed taking his second win of the afternoon,

Heat 7 saw Poole come bouncing back with a 7-3 heat advantage putting them into a one point lead with a good win from Tom Colling and team mate Sam Hearn against Aces pair Johnson and Jewkes, the next two heats leading up to the interval were shared heats with Poole taking their slender one point lead into the break.

Come the second half and Aces began to dominate the meeting with Poole having used their top two riders Gluchowski and Reed already three times in the first half of the match and the Aces having strength in depth with Wheeler, Mould and Aris all having a further three races each to come and that would prove the down fall of the visitors with the Aces taking full advantage when the mentioned riders came out for their rides,

The second half did not start well for the Aces though when they were on the receiving end of their second rider exclusion of the day with young Matt Haddock moving at the start of heat 10 leaving Lee Aris to go on his own and win giving Poole a 5-4 race advantage and extending their lead to two points, but from that point on Wednesfield took control of the driving seat and never looked back with the riders jumping up a gear starting with a great 7-3 win from Ben Mould and Gavin Wheeler with what was the pass of the day from experienced Wheeler against Poole's Colling and Hearn.

The next heat saw the aces keep the ship steady with Johnson and Jewkes sharing the points with Reed and Smith, the Wednesfield management of Roger Ellis and Wayne Aris then sprang a tactical move by bringing in Mark Griffiths for a reserve ride partnering Lee Aris for a 6-4 win against Poole's Polish pair of Gluchowski and Nowack lowering the colours of Gluchowski for the first time in the meeting, extra time was allowed under the rules before the next heat with Aces Mark Griffiths scheduled to partner Ben Mould and that pairing yielded another fine race and 7-3 win against Colling and Sidwick.

The Aces were flying now leading by eight points and extended that lead again in the next with 6-4 from Wheeler and Haddock putting the Aces into a 10-point lead, heat 16 saw Jewkes and Doherty square the race allowing Gluchowski his final race win of the day but keeping his partner Arron Smith well at the back giving Poole no way back into the meeting bar exclusions in the final two heats and the Aces took a 6-3 in the penultimate race with the places awarded after the exclusion of Sam Hearn on the final lap for obstruction giving race win to Ben Mould.

With the match now lost Poole gave reserve Oli Sidwick a ride replacing Tom Colling to partner Nowack the Aces finished off in style banging in a final 7-3 from Aris and Wheeler,

At the end it turned out to be a comfortable win for the Aces who had been expecting a much tougher meeting had Poole's overseas riders turned up.

The 2nd team match started much the same as the first team event with Poole recording a 6-4 heat one win but that was short lived the match would result in the Aces's taking ten maximum 7-3 wins a 4-5 against after a exclusion at the tapes for Troy Allen and a 5-5 in heat 10. The Aces fielded a full eight man team against Poole’s six man team the Aces main six rider's all scored double figures with reserves taking two rides each scoring seven points each Alex Lane and Jay Briggs were the best riders for Poole.